


A Gesture of True Love

by A_Zap



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Eternal Damsel in Distress, Familial Love, Family, Gen, Love, Platonic Love, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10757043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Zap/pseuds/A_Zap
Summary: Ford takes a bite of an apple and falls into a deep sleep. Luckily, Mabel has some ideas for how to awaken him, but Dipper just can’t help but wonder what possessed his great uncle to eat something from the enchanted part of the forest.





	A Gesture of True Love

**Author's Note:**

> Based on art by agent-jaselin on Tumblr from their Ford in Peril month.
> 
> http://agent-jaselin.tumblr.com/post/151792636950/ford-came-across-a-sleeping-apple-and-mabel-is
> 
> Note this is all platonic, familial love. No ships.

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.” Dipper wrung his hands together as he paced back and forth. “Oh my gosh. Mabel, what do we do?” He turned to his sister who was studying the situation.

The situation being their Great Uncle Ford asleep on the forest floor, the incriminating apple laying innocently next to him. She leaned over him, eyes drifting from his face to the apple and back.

Dipper had thought that Mabel was bad when it came to sticking things in her mouth that she wasn’t supposed to, but somehow Ford was worse. What on Earth had possessed Grunkle Ford to actually bite into an apple from the shiny, sparkling tree they had found in the enchanted part of the forest?

“Oh, come now, Dipper.” Ford had said, picking an apple and rubbing it on his sweater to clean it. “I’m sure it’s perfectly safe.”

And then he’d taken a bite.

Despite shaking him and yelling at him to wake, there were no signs of him opening his eyes.

“Mabel! What now?” Dipper’s mind raced as he pulled out one of the journals from his pocket. He flipped through the pages but “fruit that makes you fall asleep” was not one of the entries.

“Dipper, don’t you realize what this is?” Mabel rocked back on her heels a bit.

He stopped. “What? You know what’s going on?” It’s not that he didn’t believe her, it’s just he wanted to know how she had figured things out so fast.

Mabel sighed, as if burdened with oblivious relatives. “It’s so simple.” She pointed at the apple. “So we’ve got an apple that,” she switched to pointing at Ford, “apparently eating puts someone to sleep.” She gestured wide. “Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

“Well, uh,” Dipper paused. That did actually sound familiar. He frowned. Where had he –

“It’s Snow White, Dipper!” Mabel practically shouted. It was then that Dipper noticed the sudden sparkle in her eyes from checking on Ford. “Snow White!”

“Ah.” It figured that she would be quicker at picking up the similarities to the classic fairy tale.

“So you know what we have to do, right?”

Dipper suddenly realized what the sparkle was about. “A kiss?” His face scrunched up in disgust.

“Oh come on, Dipper. It’s not like it has to be on the lips like they’d have you believe. It’s just the feeling behind it that counts!” Mabel said, scooching closer to Ford. 

“Ah, are you sure?” Dipper asked. He wasn’t quite sure it would work like it did in the fairy tale. After all, this wasn’t an apple that was cursed by a witch; this was picked straight from a tree. Then again, this was an enchanted forest.

“Are you doubting that my love for Grunkle Ford is true?” Mabel looked up at him, aghast.

“Uh, no, I just mean – “ Dipper stumbled over his words.

“Ha! I’ll prove you wrong!” And with no further words, Mabel swooped in and kissed Ford on the cheek.

There was a weighted pause.

Ford still didn’t stir.

“Hmm.” Mabel leaned back, rubbing her chin. “Okay.” She clapped her hands together. “Dipper, you’re up.”

“What?” He jerked back. “Me?!”

“Well, obviously.” Mabel rolled her eyes and grinned. “Surely, if there’s anyone here who truly loves Grunkle Ford more than me, it’s you.”

“I’m the only other person here.”

“That’s beside the point.” Mabel waved his protests away. She hopped up and over to him. “C’mon, Dipper, it’s just a kiss on the cheek.”

“Ugh.” Dipper gulped. He didn’t want to do it, but it’s not like he had any other ideas at the moment. He heaved a deep sigh and gathered his courage.

He gave Ford a quick peck on the cheek and leaned back.

Still nothing.

“Huh.” Mabel frowned.

“Okay. This isn’t working.” Dipper frowned too. “You know, we never made sure that he wasn’t choking on the apple. I remember one version of the story where it turned out that the bite of apple was just blocking her airway.”

“I gotta go get Grunkle Stan! We need the power of twins!” Mabel ran off back towards the Shack, completely ignoring him. “Watch Grunkle Ford!”

“Wait! Mabel!” Dipper groaned, knowing it was useless. He sighed as he looked down at their grunkle. “You know with the way you do what you want, you sometimes remind me of her.” He couldn’t help but tell his comatose relative. After all, it was him doing something without thinking that lead to this problem.

He checked that Ford was actually asleep and not choking before he sat down underneath the tree that had started it all. He opened up the journal again to see if there was anything even remotely like this in there.

It didn’t take long before Mabel was crashing through the bushes, tugging Grunkle Stan by the hand.

“Okay, kids, what’s going on?” Stan asked, looking around. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Ford on the ground.

“You didn’t explain?” Dipper asked as he got up.

“Nope. I figured seeing was better than saying.” Mabel grinned. Dipper figured that while she wasn’t necessarily happy with the potential peril Ford was in, she was glad to make her grunkles show affection to each other.

“He wasn’t eating rocks again, was he? He used to do that when we were kids, claiming he was checking for fossils.” Stan continued to study his brother until his eyes finally fell on the apple. 

It seemed that Stan caught on to the situation as quickly as Mabel had. His eyes narrowed as they flickered from his brother’s face to the apple with a single bite in it. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” He said, completely deadpan. 

“C’mon, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel hopped up and down a bit in excitement. “Show him you love him! Give him a kiss!”

“You’re sure he’s actually in an enchanted sleep and not just choking on it?” Stan’s face was as disgusted as Dipper’s had been earlier, he was sure.

“He’s not. I checked.” Dipper said reluctantly.

“Yes! Kiss of True Love! Kiss! Kiss!” Mabel chanted.

“Sweetie, Ford and I do not give each other kisses. Ever.” Stan said. As Mabel opened her mouth to protest, he held up his hand. “Luckily for you, if it’s a matter of showing how much I truly love him, then I do have something that will show how I feel.”

Dipper had a bad feeling about this.

Stan knelt down and began untying one of this shoes.

“What, like a secret handshake or something?” Mabel asked, perking back up from the initial disappointment.

“Or something.” Stan said vaguely. He slipped his shoe off.

“It’s not a punching thing, is it?”

“Nope.” Stan walked over to Ford and crouched down.

Dipper’s brow furrowed. “What are you…?” Before he could finish his question, his grunkle acted.

Stan shoved his shoe right underneath Ford’s nose. Both Dipper and Mabel recoiled in horror. No one deserved to have to smell Stan’s stinky shoes.

“Grunkle Stan, what are you – “ Mabel’s scolding cut off as Ford jerked upwards and awake with a yell.

“Agh! What is that – Stanley!” Ford’s hand came up to pinch his nose and prevent more of the smell from wafting up his nostrils. He glared at his brother and the offending shoe. “What are you doing?!” He demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the shoe.

Dipper and Mabel’s jaws dropped.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty.” Stan said with a snort. He went down once more to put his shoe back on.

“I – what?” Ford looked around, confused. “Wait a minute, what happened?”

“Grunkle Stan,” Mabel’s eyes were shiny once more, “it actually worked.”

“What worked?” Ford asked.

“How?” Dipper was just as confused as Ford. It made no sense.

Stan chuckled. “Long story short,” he said, pointing at Ford, “you ate a magical apple that decided to pull a Snow White,” Ford spluttered at the description but Dipper and Mabel couldn’t help but nod in agreement, “and I awoke you with a gesture of true love.” 

Ford squinted at him, adjusting his glasses. “Shoving your shoe in my face is a gesture of true love?” He asked, incredulous. He slowly got up and dusted himself off.

“Eh.” Stan shrugged. He turned to head back to the Shack. “If it worked to wake you up when you really needed to back when we were kids, why wouldn’t it work now?”

“What are you? Ten?”

“Well, apparently you are, since it worked and all.”

The two continued to banter back and forth as they headed home. Mabel and Dipper just stood there watching them. Then their eyes drifted back to that apple.

With a swift kick from Mabel, the apple soared out of sight. “Dipper,” she said seriously, “I love you, but don’t shove a shoe in my face to wake me up.”

“Only if you do the same for me.” Dipper agreed and they pinky-promised over it. Of course, Dipper knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. After all, apparently just knowing what would guarantee wake someone up was a sign of true love.

“So what do you think would wake me up?” Mabel asked as they began to follow in their grunkles’ footsteps. 

“Easy. Play the theme from Dream Boy High as high as it goes and keep a plate of chocolate just out of reach.” Dipper said with a knowing grin.

“For you, I’d just have to start whispering spoilers in your ear.” Mabel playfully shoved him.

They laughed and ran after the rest of their family, crisis successfully avoided.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: So I just loved the Ford in Peril month @agent-jaselin but I loved this one especially, probably because I’m a sucker for fairy tales. Anyway, so I saw a lot of comments and tags for this one were like, “Oh, and then Mabel would kiss Ford on the cheek and he’d wake up.” But I was like, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Stan managed to wake him up by shoving his smelly shoe in his face or something?”
> 
> I have a sibling who sleeps like a log and coming up with ways to wake him was highly entertaining as a kid, so I figure Ford and Stan did something like that as well. A kiss doesn’t have to be the only way to show your love, knowing the little things like how to wake someone up best counts. So this is the way that siblings’ show how much they truly love each other. Even if it’s gross.


End file.
